Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1887-01-13
THE TIFFIN TRAGEDY.
A Drunken Engineer Causes the Terri.
bic Collision.
Testimony As TO tho Cause or tho
Wreck As Taken at the Inquest.

CLEVELAND, Jan, THE inquest into
the causes of the Baltimore b Ohio rail.
road wreck at Republic, Ohio, was be
gun at 9 o'clock this afternoon at Tiflin.
A special to the Leader says that the city
hall, where the inquest Is being held, was
crowded The first witness examined
was l.. +. Fletcher, conductor Of the
freight train.
CONDUCTOR FLETCsIER's TESTIMONY.
Ed. Killer was engineer of the freight,
and w. J. Cullson was fireman. We
ran from Tiffin to Seneca siding. about
three and onc.half miles east Of here.
and sldc.tracked for the east-bound OK.
press. After this train passed we had
forty-fv minutes in which to make Re-
public siding. We left this place with
lao pounds Of steam. After getting out
two miles | noticed that the train was
Stacking. went forward oyer the cars,
eighteen in number. to the engine to see
what was wrong. found that the steam
had run down to forty pounds. open
ed the door Of the furnace and looked at
the fire. then looked at my watch, and
saw that we had but four minutes until
No. @, the wcst.baund express, was due.
| took red and white lantern and went
ahead to flag her Igot about hundred
yards in the curve and signalled to stop.
AS the express approached l noticed
that the engineer had reversed the engine.
In the meantime the freight had come to
a stand and the engineer had shut Oh
steam and jumped of. saw him take
two drinks of whisky at Bloomdale and
two at Fostoria. When saw at Repub-
lie that we had but four minutes to reach
Sidney, the engineer did not seem to
realize the danger ahead. | tried to get
the passengers out Of the burning cars.
tried to get him out, but the flames
drove me away and he had to burn. |
heard no shrieks or cries of others In the
burning cars"
w. J. Cullison, the fireman on the
freight, was next called. He said he was
a farm hand and had been on the road
but three weeks, and never knew any
thing about the business before. lie
said: 1--WE had trouble in keeping ur
the fire; we had one hundred and forty
pounds of steam when we left Seneca
Siding; the train ran four or five miles
when the steam went down to sixty
pounds. We were then going about
three miles per hour. The conductor
came in. looked at the fire and said II
was all right. When the conductor went
ahead to flag saw the express coming,
he yelled back for us to jump. After
the collision occurred tried to get per
sons out | saw persons in the burning
cars, but was so excited could tell but
little about It."
Charles Snyder, of Columbus, was
front brakeman on the freight. He
said: II was in the cab Of the engine
and noticed that they had but one gauge
of water, when they should have had at
least three. was going ahead to flag,
but the conductor grabbed the lantern
and went. knew nothing about either
the conductor or engineer drinking. Al
the collision l saw man hanging about
half way out Of the smoker, who called
TO me for Gods sake to help him out.
The man was supposed to be Nj. IL.
Parks, of Washington. heard no one
on the inside of the smoker"
Thomas 4. Heskett, Of Wheeling, w;
Va, conductor Of the express on the
night of the collision, testified : The
express was three minutes late at Re.
public had about sixty passengers,
| fourteen or fifteen in the smoker. Oh
that number five escaped from the smok
er. two by being thrown out of the tor
| OF the car, uninjured, and three some
what injured think there were no
more than ten killed" The inques Wi
! be resumed In the morning.